With the widespread of network apparatuses, most telecommunication service providers offer location-based services equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) and an Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS), so that communication devices are able to obtain a wide range of services via network.
For example, a location-based service may allow a user to search for events happening around his/her location using a mobile phone (a communication device), thereby increasing consumer options in areas such as food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, entertainment and etc. However, in the process of using the location-based service, illegal parties may obtain the location information of the user by exploiting system vulnerabilities, or other individual subscriber information stored in a cloud server, this will violate individual privacy. Even with the advent of “Amazon EC2” system or “SQL Azure” system, this shortcoming is still not eliminated.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to eliminate information leakage in existing location-based services.